This 20-slide lesson explores Dennis Scott’s poem, ‘Marrysong’. Students are encouraged to consider the concept of marriage - both literally and symbolically. Scott’s life and work is introduced and then we delve into the poem itself. The lesson pays close attention to Scott’s use of language, imagery, form, structure, and rhythm. Scott’s use of extended metaphor and cartographic imagery is analysed. The poem’s key themes and ideas are deconstructed, with ambitious vocabulary provided to equip students for sophisticated analysis. Students are also prompted to reflect on the poem’s tone and overall message. At the end of the lesson is an exam-style question on the poem. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 22-slide lesson explores Mervyn Morris’ poem, ‘Little Boy Crying’. The lesson explores Morris’ life and work before asking key questions related to parenthood, children, and perspective. The poem’s language, form, structure, and imagery are deconstructed, with close analysis of Morris’ methods. We consider the poem’s key themes and ideas - including masculinity and violence - and think about how Morris’ choice of narrative tone and style informs the poetic vision. Ambitious vocabulary is included to aid students with sophisticated analysis. We also consider philosophical questions raised by the poem. An exam-style essay question is featured at the end of the lesson. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 17-slide lesson explores Stevie Smith’s poem, ‘Not Waving But Drowning’. Students are asked challenging but important questions about how conscious we are of the feelings of those around us - our family, friends, and even neighbours, colleagues, and acquaintances. We discuss the nature of Smith’s poetry - her recurring themes, styles, and subject matter - before reading her famous poem. We think about how the poem might be read as an allegory, reflecting on important ideas surrounding mental health and compassion. The language, imagery, structure, and rhyme of the poem are then deconstructed in detail. Students explore the poem’s key themes, and ambitious vocabulary is introduced to facilitate sophisticated analysis. At the end of the poem, an exam-style question is included. Please note: this poem (and lesson) explores some mature themes regarding mental health. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 21-slide lesson explores Isobel Dixon’s poem, ‘Plenty’. Students are encouraged to consider what it means to have ‘plenty’, reflecting on ideas of necessity vs. luxury. We look at Dixon’s life and work, thinking about how the poem reflects her childhood. We read the poem together before delving into its language, imagery, structure, rhythm, and form. Tasks include images linked to key ideas in the poem, which students must identify. Questions and discussion points are included throughout the lesson. The poem’s key themes and ideas are deconstructed, and ambitious vocabulary is introduced to aid students with sophisticated analysis. We also consider the tone and mood of the poem. At the end of the lesson, an exam-style essay question is featured for students, with tips for how to structure the response. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 21-slide explores Rosemary Dobson’s poem, ‘The Three Fates’. The lesson encourages students to consider ideas of fate, discussing the role of the Three Fates in Greek mythology. Dobson’s life and work is also introduced. The poem is read and students give their first impressions, before delving into close linguistic analysis. Dobson’s use of imagery, form, structure, and rhyme is then deconstruction. Students are taught the key themes of the poem, and equipped with ambitious vocabulary to allow for sophisticated analysis. We then debate how we might describe the tone of the poem. Questions and discussion points are included throughout the lesson. An exam-style essay question is featured at the end. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 24-slide lesson explores the character of Lady Bracknell from Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Wilde’s presentation of Lady Bracknell is thoroughly deconstructed, with students asked to consider her theatrical heritage via Greek stock characters and the Comedy of Manners. We debate to what extent Lady Bracknell can be called the play’s ‘antagonist’, and how Wilde uses her to catalyse key events or provide comical obstacles in the play. Wilde’s structural use of Lady Bracknell is analysed, and important quotations from her and relating to her are dissected. We think about what we can learn from the stage directions about Lady Bracknell, and discuss how Wilde uses the offstage character of Lord Bracknell to inform Lady Bracknell’s character. We consider Lady Bracknell in the context of the ‘New Woman’ and students are provided with key vocabulary that might be used to analyse Lady Bracknell. Modern theatrical interpretations (including gender inversions) of Lady Bracknell are discussed. Students are also encouraged to think critically about how Lady Bracknell interacts with props and how Wilde positions her at the end of the play. Questions and discussion points are provided for students throughout the lesson. An exam-style essay question is featured at the end. Exemplar sentences and sentence openers are provided for students to enable sophisticated analysis, including purposeful introductions to extended essays. This lesson is ideal for high-level analysis of Lady Bracknell. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 20-slide lesson explores Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, ‘War Photographer’. The lesson begins by considering the role of news and news media, before discussing our relationship with news coverage. Students are encouraged to think critically about how they interact with various news platforms and whether the globalisation of news coverage has lessened or deepened our understanding of the world. Duffy’s life and work is considered, including her friendship with prominent photojournalists. Students look at some of the work of notable real-life ‘war photographers’, considering the unique and challenging role of a photojournalist, and the ethics behind it. We read the poem and explore its language, form, structure, and rhythm. Key vocabulary is presented to students to facilitate top-grade analysis, and the poem’s main themes are discussed. A variety of discursive and formal questions are featured for students, and an exam-style essay question is included at the end. Teachers can use various stimuli to discuss the complex questions that Duffy asks about the role of photojournalism. This lesson is ideal for students ages 13+. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 28-slide lesson explores the themes of duality and double-lives in Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. The lesson encourages students to think about the numerous binaries and dualities throughout Wilde’s play, and how these relate to the idea of ‘earnestness’ that the play satirises. Sophisticated vocabulary is provided to help students with their analysis. Students are presented with important literary and historical context, including Wilde’s own ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ and Stevenson’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, plus examples of real-life late-Victorian scandals which fed into and fuelled fin de siecle interests in the duality of man. We also explore dualities in Wilde’s own life. The lesson considers how deception plays into the play’s key themes, and explores Wilde’s literary preoccupation with ‘masks’. Key quotations from the play (linked to duality or double-lives) are considered throughout the lesson, and each of the key characters are dissected. Discussion points and questions are featured throughout. This lesson is ideal for A-level (age 16+) study of the text. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 25-slide lesson explores Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s ‘Sonnet 43’. The lesson introduces and discusses the sonnet form, noting its history and formal influence by both Petrarch and Shakespeare. This then leads to a discussion of contemporary love songs and their common features, considering the recurring ideas that love poems or songs seek to express. Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s life and work is introduced, including the significance of Christian doctrine to her life. We then read the poem and analyse its language, form, structure, and rhyme. Imagery, symbols, and methods are deconstructed, and the poem’s ‘big questions’ are debated. Ambitious vocabulary is provided to enable students to produce sophisticated and precise analysis of the poem. Questions and discussion points are included throughout the lesson. An exam-style essay question is featured at the end. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 24-slide lesson explores Boey Kim Cheng’s poem, ‘The Planners’. The lesson introduces the life and work of Boey Kim Cheng before interrogating the philosophical relationship between construction and destruction. We consider the purpose of history and discuss the concept of cultural amnesia. Students are taught about the growth of Singapore since its independence from the British Empire. Students then read the poem and delve into its language and imagery. Analysis of extended metaphor leads to exploration of form, structure, and rhyme. We think about the tone and key themes of the poem, and Boey Kim Cheng’s message in view of ever-expanding urban environments and global industrialisation. Students are given ambitious vocabulary to help them to produce sophisticated and precise analysis of the poem. Questions and discussion points are included throughout for students. An exam-style question is also featured at the end of the lesson. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 21-slide lesson explores Robert Hayden’s poem, ‘Those Winter Sundays’. The lesson considers the connotations evoked by the title before teaching students about Hayden’s life and work. Students then read the poem and are encouraged to think about information that can be inferred by ‘reading between the lines’ of the poem. The poem’s language and imagery is deconstructed in view of what it suggests about the relationship between the speaker and their father. We consider what is ‘unspoken’ in the text and what the reader might deduce from this. Students are encouraged to reflect on the ambiguity of the poem’s ending before considering the overall form, structure, and rhyme. The poem’s key themes are discussed, the tone is considered, and ambitious vocabulary is presented to students to allow them to produce sophisticated and precise analysis of the poem. Questions and discussion points are included throughout the lesson, and an exam-style question is presented at the end. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 22-slide lesson explores Sujata Bhatt’s poem, ‘Muliebrity’. The lesson begins by considering western cultural conditioning regarding images of dung and excrement, before delving into Hindu beliefs regarding cows and how this should affect our reading of the poem. Sujata Bhatt’s life and work is introduced, and statements from Bhatt relating to her own childhood are explored in light of the poem. Close attention is paid to the poem’s language, particularly the use of extended metaphor and olfactory imagery. The poem’s form, structure, and rhyme are explored, and key vocabulary is presented to allow students to write about the poem with precision and sophistication. The poem’s key themes are discussed, and its tone and message are debated in light of multiple readings. Questions and discussion points are featured throughout the lesson. At the end of the lesson is an exam-style question. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 17-slide lesson explores Seamus Heaney’s famous poem, ‘Mid-Term Break’. The lesson begins by deconstructing the poem’s title, before thinking sensitively about funereal procedure and atmosphere. Heaney’s life and work is introduced to prepare students for the autobiographical nature of the poem. Key vocabulary is presented for students to produce precise and sophisticated analysis of the poem. The poem’s key themes, imagery, and symbols are deconstructed, and students are encouraged to think critically about the poem’s language, form, structure, and rhyme. The tone of the poem is considered, and multiple readings of the poem are introduced. Discussion points and questions are included throughout. A visual task invites students to identify key images associated with the poem, which works nicely as an individual or group activity. An exam-style question is included at the end of the lesson. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 21-slide lesson explores Maya Angelou’s classic poem, ‘Caged Bird’. The lesson introduces students to the key themes, ideas, and context behind the poem. Angelou’s life and work is discussed and the poem’s use of extended metaphor is deconstructed. Close analysis is conducted of language, form, structure, and rhyme, and students are encouraged to reflect on multiple readings of the poem. Key vocabulary is introduced to help students produce precise and sophisticated analysis when discussing racism, misogyny, and other forms of prejudice and marginalisation. Discussion points and questions are included throughout. An essay-style question is featured at the end of the lesson. This lesson is ideal for students approaching the poem either as part of a learned anthology or to develop their abilities analysing ‘unseen’ or isolated poetry. Owing to the universal nature of the poem, the lesson is suitable for a wide range of secondary-aged students, particularly those aged between 13-16. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 20-slide lesson introduces the key context of George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. Students learn about Orwell’s works and social commentary before delving into the dystopian genre and its key features. Totalitarianism and the political turmoil of the Cold War are then discussed, inviting students to think critically about society, individuality, surveillance, and propaganda as a tool for oppressive regimes to maintain control. The novel’s key themes are introduced, and students are tasked with looking up and defining sophisticated vocabulary associated with the novel. At the end of the lesson is a potential class or homework task in which students research historical examples of totalitarianism. This is an ideal introduction to ‘1984’, and could easily cover more than one lesson if teachers would like to expand upon any ideas or tasks. The PowerPoint is saved as a pdf to maintain its layout.

This 30-slide lesson offers a contextual introduction to Mildred D. Taylor’s novel, ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’. This lesson explores the historical background to the novel, covering the American Civil War, the Reconstruction era, the Great Depression, and Jim Crow Laws. The tragically widespread power of racism is noted, including the prevalence of the Ku Klux Klan and how segregation was legally enforced. Students also consider Mildred D. Taylor’s own upbringing and how this came to influence her writing. Quotations from Taylor herself can be analysed with students. We also explain the American Dream and its significance to the novel’s setting. The novel’s title, key themes, and narrative are also deconstructed, including reference to African American ‘spirituals’ and the importance of the novel being narrated by a child. Students consider the novel as a coming-of-age story. Key vocabulary linked to the novel is also presented for students to define and understand. Questions, discussion points, and tasks are included throughout. Students reflect on whether we have a duty to challenge injustice in our communities and debate how influential adult influence can be on children. This comprehensive lesson is ideal for students ages 11+. The themes of racism do of course mean that some content is fairly mature. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

Help students to finally master commas with this engaging 18-slide lesson that covers all the main rules. We all know that many students struggle with commas. This lesson aims to explain the key rules alongside practical examples. It explains how to use commas in lists (including the Oxford comma), for fronted adverbials, and subordinate clauses. Humorous comma errors are included for students to identify and amend. This lesson is ideal for KS3, but could definitely be used for GCSE students struggling with apostrophes too. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 14-slide lesson offers students an introduction to the ballad form of poetry. Students explore the history behind the ballad form, focusing on its sensationalist subject matter and significant use of rhyme and rhythm. We discuss how appreciating the oral nature of performed ballads is vital to understanding the rhythm and sound of the poems, and we think about which subjects commonly recur in popular ballads. A starter activity encourages students to consider rhyme and the aural nature of words. Students learn how the ballad form developed into the ‘Lyrical Ballads’ of Wordsworth and Coleridge, popularising the form that we now recognise as poetic ballads. The rise of modern ‘power ballads’ in pop music is also noted. An example of a ballad (by Wordsworth) is given for students to deconstruct its rhythm and rhyme scheme. Students then have a go at writing their own ballad. Another example - this time an original ballad (by yours truly) - is provided to help students with their own ballads. Questions and discussion points are included for students. This lesson is ideal for those studying the ballad form or poetry in general in KS3. PowerPoint is saved as PDF.

This 23-slide lesson provides an introduction to David Almond’s ‘Skellig’. Offering a comprehensive exploration to the context behind Almond’s novel, this lesson begins with various book cover designs, prompting students to consider what the novel might be about. We then talk about David Almond himself, and read a blurb summary of the novel. The lesson’s main focus surrounds the idea of angels. Students discuss the connotations and cultural associations of angels, learning vocabulary to describe them and exploring iconic angelic figures such as Gabriel and Lucifer. Paintings and other cultural depictions of angels are analysed. The novel’s key themes are discussed, and students look up the definitions of key words linked to the story. The lesson ends with a reflective task which puts students into the shoes of Michael, the novel’s protagonist. This could be completed in the lesson or as a homework task. Questions, discussion points, and tasks are included throughout. This lesson is ideal for upper KS2 or lower KS3 pupils. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 18-slide stand-alone lesson explores the question: ‘Does spelling matter?’. Students are prompted to think about why spelling is so important, and the lesson demonstrates some humorous examples of how incorrect spelling might lead to some dangerous misunderstandings! We think about some tricky homophones, including effect/affect and practice/practise, and devise some methods for remembering which spelling applies to certain contexts. Students are asked to correct the spellings of various sentences and passages to consolidate their understanding. There is an opportunity for peer and self-assessment at the end of the lesson. Also included is a homophones worksheet for students to complete either in class or as a homework activity. This lesson is ideal for upper KS2 and for KS3 pupils. PowerPoint and Word Doc saved as PDFs.